Sunday, September 29, 2013

When I came up with the title for this post I was about to up sticks and move to another blogging platform but after failing dismally with formatting the stoopid thing I decided to stick with Blogger after all!

However, the post title is not totally useless and here's why...

Lots has been happening Chez Moog over the past seven (7!!) months since I last blogged. There's been the usual crafty stuff, with plenty of knitting, a good sprinkling of crochet,a teeny bit of sewing and a fair bit of spinning but for a good couple of months earlier this year my crafting mojo upped and disappeared, without a trace.
Something else demanded my time and energy. A very very exciting something. A something that, at times, we doubted we would ever get around to doing. We achieved a dream and it's transformed our home and our relationship with it (for the better) more than I would ever have thought possible.

On 8th April this year work started on our kitchen extension and by the end of June it was done and ready to be lived in. Grab yourself a cuppa and join me on a picture-filled journey to the kitchen of my dreams.

This was the old kitchen - that's all of it (most of it is hanging off the walls)! I'm standing with my back squeezed against the kitchen door to take the photo.

The rest of the downstairs of the house comprised a lounge/diner that used to be two separate rooms, with a small conservatory tacked onto the back, that became the dumping ground for most of my craft stuff and anything we didn’t know what to do with…which was a lot!

So before anything could happen, I was tasked with emptying the conservatory, a Herculean task if ever there was one. It certainly focussed my mind and urged me to rehome rather a large amount of ‘stuff’ that I’d been hanging onto for years.

Mr Moog then busied himself with demolishing the conservatory while I hid inside, forgetting to take photos.

Then the day came, when Shaun the Builder and his band of merry men, arrived and got stuck straight in digging the footings, and drinking more tea than I would have ever thought possible (worth every cup!).

In less than a week we had this:

And in what seemed like the blink of an eye we had this:

Which very soon became this:

The builders were brilliant (Merlin LOVED them!) and the build went incredibly smoothly, apart from one day very early on when the newly built external wall skin on one side was caught by a freak gust of wind and five courses of bricks fell on the builder! Thankfully he was shaken but unhurt.

So, are you ready? Would you like to see it? It’s 99.8% finished as we still have the odd bit of skirting to paint and can’t decide on tiles for the splashback, but we’re in and we love it!

Here goes!

#1 - standing in the doorway from the hall - this first little bit at the front is the old kitchen!

#2 standing where my old patio was outside the old kitchen window looking

across to where I now sit to knit!!

#3 - standing with my back to the French doors looking across to my

ISLAND UNIT - I love this sooooo much!!

#4 - looking from where my old conservatory was across to my ISLAND UNIT

- that I love!!

#5 - standing just behind the....island unit...and looking across to the dining

room. There's now a new wall separating this from the lounge part of our old

lounge/diner so we have a lovely new cosy lounge too!

Now, I'd like to show you some of the very exciting twiddly bits that make the

Pull out recycling bins! No more manky plastic bag hanging from a hook on the wall - love it!

Possibly the very very most exciting thing - a broom cupboard!! I've never had a broom cupboard and have spent the past 12 years tripping over the Dyson and the ironing board - this makes me very happy!

But I reckon this just has to be outright winner - just look at the view from my knitting chair!

We've lived here for over twelve years. I fell in love with the house as soon as we saw it. It just felt right.

Over the years we've filled it and perhaps even outgrown it and I admit I'd fallen out of love with it.

But now? Now, it's perfect...or it will be once the garden is done (it suffered with the building work) and once we've built me a shed of my own...

Hi, I'm Lesley aka Moogsmum. After years of dreaming about it I've finally set up my own business making and selling my handmade bags, brooches, pictures and accessories. I love to sew, knit, crochet, spin and weave. Married to Mr Moog with two lovely teenagers and two wonderful dogs - Merlin Moog, the world's cuddliest border collie, and naughty collie x spaniel Willow Wobbler.
You can often find me on Instagram where I'm @mrs_moog and I blog here about my crafty doings and life stuff.